Finger on the Trigger (1965)

Rory Calhoun is Larry Winton, leading a band of former Union soldiers West to a new life in Sante Fe after the Civil War.

James Philbrook is Adam Hyde, a former Confederate officer who has taken control of Fort Grant with his men. They’re awaiting the arrival of Violet Belmont.

Her daddy was a rich Southern banker who relocated his fortune to a small Western town named Southernville during the Civil War.

It’s buried there now, disguised as lead covered horseshoes. Her job: Get the gold to Mexico for the rise of a new Confederacy.

But where there’s a fortune in gold, there’s bound to be conflicts. Hyde’s second in command (Ed Bannister) has ideas about grabbing the gold for himself.

But the ex-Union soldiers find the gold first when a bullet richochets off a horseshoe, revealing the gold beneath.

Naturally, that’s sets off a battle of will between members of Winton’s command. He and several of his mates want to return the gold to Fort Grant for a finder’s fee; a head-strong trooper named Hillstrom wants to keep the gold for himself.

And if all those inner conflicts aren’t enough, the Indians are on the warpath, determined to wipe out both factions of soldiers.

Review:

This is a Sidney Pink made Spaghetti, meaning its basically a B Western made American style in Europe with a partly international cast thrown in for good measure.

Calhoun does his best. And Bruce Talbot has an interesting role as a young ex-soldier under Calhoun’s command who has trouble following orders.

But there’s some silly dialogue and a couple of silly scenes. Rory is shooting at a rattlesnake when the bullet ricochets and reveals a gold horseshoe plated in iron. The gold is later melted down to make cannon balls to fight the Indians.

Best of all is a scene where the Indians try to sneak down the street in Southernville, hidden behind wooden barrels. A couple rounds from the cannon, and the street is littered with dead Indians. But all the barrels are still intact!

Directed by:
Sidney Pink

Cast:
Rory Calhoun … Larry Winton
James Philbrook … Adam Hyde
Leo Anchoriz … Ed Bannister
Todd Martin … Hillstrom
Georges Rigaud … Benton
Silvia Solar … Violet
Bruce Talbot … Fred
Axel Anderson … McNamara
Fernando Bilbao … Mayer
John Clarke … Numitah
Beni Deus … O’Brien
Guillermo Elias … Mike Daly

aka:
Blue Lightning
El Dedo en el Gatillo

Score: Jose Sala

Runtime: 94 min.

Memorable lines:

One Union soldier to another: “I can’t get used to fighting these natives. It’s like shooting a man in his bathtub.”

Larry Winton: “All of you who are with me (about what to do with the gold), let’s get outside. I’ll give you a little chance to think it over. If you don’t agree with me, we’ll be outside with our fingers on the trigger.”

Violet, from a bathtub: “Lt. Bannister, now that you’ve had your look, would you please excuse me? I am a lady, even if you are no gentleman. Goodbye.”
Bannister smirks.
Violet draws a pistol from the side of the tub: “I’ve seen dead men before. I’ve just been through a war.”

Indian chief, to a prisoner: “Why white woman come in crazy carriage? Me want know.”

Fred: “Anyone ever tell you never to trust an Indian?”
Hillstrom: “Just you worry whether anyone ever told those Indians not to trust a jackal.”

Violet, after an officer’s death: “I didn’t get to know him very well, but he was the last of a dying breed of Southerners.”
Winston, the ex-Union officer: “Perhaps. I think there are a lot of them left. Both in the North, and in the South.”

Trivia:

This film marked Rory Calhoun’s only Spaghetti Western. And while it isn’t a gem, it isn’t the film he regretted most. That would be 1972’s “Night of the Lepus.” “It’s the movie I’d like to forget,” he told Variety. “For Christ’s sake, I was fighting giant rabbits.” His co-stars included Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh and DeForest Kelley of Star Trek fame.

In his autobiography, Sidney Pink writes that Victor Mature was supposed to play the lead, but failed to show up for work and was drunk when he was found. Rory Calhoun agreed to fill the role as a favor to Pink, even though he only had 10 days to spare before making his next film. Most of the film was shot without the star on the set.

Pink also writes in his autobiography that he didn’t trust himself to film many of the action sequences in the movie. Those were directed by famed Western stuntman Yakima Canutt.